Wednesday 3 August 2016

Editorial: The Suicide Squad (of Fandom)

Yep, we're in this situation again. With the release of the next instalment of the DC Cinematic Universe, Suicide Squad, fast approaching, reviews have finally been unleashed onto the world - only to find that the latest outing is about on par (if not marginally better) than March's surprise disappoint Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Comments from major publishers have remarked on the film being full of "eardrum-puncturingly bad dialogue, scowling self-pity, covert pornography and scrappy CGI" and featuring "the lamest DC villain since Sharon Stone stalked 'Catwoman.'", and those few that have been a tad more praising have still issued middling ratings. And while none of the cast members have seemingly remarked on the situation a la 'Sadfleck', director David Ayer has publically tweeted about how he feels about the film despite the criticisms he's now faced with.

Now, this sort of thing isn't new - hell, looking over the numerous films released this year alone that have garnered negative responses presents that this such ordeal is an issue only in just how many they've been - but what makes the scenario here all the more publicised and annoying is the response from the fans themselves. Numerous upon numerous of the franchise's loyal fans have been clamouring over critical opinions since The Dark Knight Rises in 2012 (in which lead to Rotten Tomatoes briefly closing its comments section), but with reports of death threats to some naysayers and consistent trolling towards others, with the response to Batman V Superman being an apparent breaking point. And yet, it's Suicide Squad which has lead to an outrage amongst fans to the point where they want to close Rotten Tomatoes down because of the negative responses. Not the actual reviewers - although that's painful enough when you recall the so-called Disney agenda that they believe in; insisting that BvS and X-Men: Apocalypse were only rated badly because Disney had paid the critics off - but the site that simply rounds the reviews up into a simple percentage and average /10 rating (Squad currently sits at 33% and 5.2/10, compared to BvS' 27% and 4.9/10).

Now, this is quite clearly absurd, but it's unfortunately not much of a case that's started here, nor will it end here. The whole Ghostbusters scenario has been all the more gruesome in actuality, with the film's surprisingly positive reception instead leading to the film somewhat failing to reach the heights it was supposed to and constant online hassling towards non-white lead actress Leslie Jones on Twitter. And while that situation was one that had more of an effect before its reviews started coming in, it was afterward that people went even more nuts over the Rotten Tomatoes site. The likes of Suicide Squad, Batman V Superman and The Legend of Tarzan have all (somewhat) suffered from their ratings... but people are getting annoyed over these specific ones because they are based on popular brands which have had success in the past. No one really batted an eyelid when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows or Alice Through The Looking Glass both got bad ratings because no one overly cared for the first films, but seeing the likes of Batman, the X-Men, and Warcraft garner negativity is enough to make a devoted fan angry.


And not helping the situation is Disney - the people who so many of these fans believe are buying their way into the critic's good books. Seemingly forgetting that Alice was received badly and that The Finest Hours barely made it past the Fresh rating, they've been having a banner year in the form of Captain America: Civil War, The BFG and Finding Dory, with Pete's Dragon already gaining a good response and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story likely to receive praise because Star Wars, and as such has made them easy scapegoats. Of course, the whole thing is tedious and beyond stupidity, but that's the internet for you. The entire film industry is suffering this year critically and financially (even Disney has had to have some write-offs with Alice and The BFG), but it's DC that are the biggest sufferers - the brand that has already grossed $1.5bn across two movies and will likely break $2bn with Suicide Squad. The reviews may mean that the films won't be quite as massive as they might have been, but at least they'll still earn some money and the studios can respond to such criticisms in their future efforts (hell, Wonder Woman looks good without studio interference, and the changes for Justice League appear to be for the best - it actually looks alright now).

The critical responses to movies may deter potential audiences away, but it doesn't always spell out good news or bad. A Transformers movie can still gross $1bn worldwide. Batman V Superman can still gross nearly $900m. The Ice Age franchise will continue to thrive despite getting worse and worse. The Nice Guys can still flop despite good reviews. The BFG can look charming, be directed by Steven Spielberg and be well-received but still fail. Word of mouth can affect a movie, but it won't ultimately suffer greatly because of it. It's how mainstream audiences end up seeing it that's the real game-changer.

And hey, I might end up liking it more than Batman V Superman. You may end up agreeing with critics in disliking it. It's, like, your opinion, man.
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